The Most Happy Fella
Thru Sept. 9 at the Candlelight Pavilion
By: Nancy Powell
Maybe the whole idea behind the mail-order bride seems like a story your dear old grandparents told, but the concept is very much alive and well, thanks to our melting pot culture. Does the beautiful, hot blonde Slavic chick with the gigantic hooters who you thought your nerdy best friend could never nab (the green card chick) ring a bell? Or Indian-arranged marriages? eHarmony anybody? Not only have we as a culture bent over backwards to relive our immigrant histories, but it’s being immortalized by the Inland Valley Repertory Theatre Company’s production of The Most Happy Fella, the 1956 Broadway musical by Frank Loesser (Guys and Dolls). Middle-aged Italian vintner Tony Esposito falls in love with a waitress on a trip; starts up a long-distance romance by mail; arranges a chance meeting and gets the jitters just cuz he’s not cute enough; sends her a picture of his handsome sidekick, which, by the way, backfires. And like Janeane Garofalo’s nerdy radio-talk show vet in The Truth About Cats and Dogs, the protagonists bicker and banter, get their feelings mixed up like a needle in the haystack until they embrace the “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” shtick and live happily ever after. Frank Minano takes the lead of Tony, along with Laura Lindahl as Rosabella and 50 fabulous voices of the Mountainside Master Chorale chiming in. With the experienced Terre Gunkel (Taming of the Shrew, Midsummer Night’s Dream) at the helm, The Most Happy Fella promises to be a rip-roaring, soaring operatic showstopper of a production.
The Most Happy Fella thru Sept. 9 at the Candlelight Pavilion, 455 Foothill Blvd., Claremont; (909) 626-1254 ext. 1, www.ivrt.org. Tickets $22-25.
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